Prevention

Drug addiction is preventable. Drug education and prevention efforts aimed at children and adolescents and involving families, schools, communities and media can be effective in reducing drug misuse.

Risk and Protective Factors for Drug Misuse and Addiction:

Risk and Protective Factors for Drug Misuse and Addiction

Aggressive behavior in childhood/Good self-control

Lack of parental supervision/Parental monitoring and support

Poor social skills/Positive relationships

Drug experimentation/Academic competence

Availability of drugs at school/School anti-drug policies

Community poverty/Neighborhood pride

These 13 principles of effective drug addiction treatment were developed based on three decades of scientific research. Research shows that treatment can help drug-addicted individuals stop drug use, avoid relapse and successfully recover their lives.

Addiction is a complex, but treatable, disease that affects brain function and behavior.

No single treatment is appropriate for everyone.

Treatment needs to be readily available.

Effective treatment attends to multiple needs of the individual, not just his or her drug abuse.

Remaining in treatment for an adequate period of time is critical.

Counseling— individual and/or group —and other behavioral therapies are the most commonly used forms of drug abuse treatment.

Medications are an important element of treatment for many patients, especially when combined with counseling and other behavioral therapies.

An individual’s treatment and services plan must be assessed continually and modified as necessary to ensure it meets his or her changing needs.

Many drug-addicted individuals also have other mental disorders.

Medically assisted detoxification is only the first stage of addiction treatment and by itself does little to change long-term drug abuse.

Treatment does not need to be voluntary to be effective.

Drug use during treatment must be monitored continuously, as lapses during treatment do occur.

Treatment programs should assess patients for the presence of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, as well as provide targeted risk-reduction counseling to help patients modify or change behaviors that place them at risk of contracting or spreading infectious diseases.

(These principles are detailed in NIDA’s Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research Based Guide.)

How to Help a Friend or Family Member

Some suggestions to get started:

Learn all you can about alcohol and drug misuse and addiction.
Speak up and offer your support: talk to the person about your concerns, and offer your help and support, including your willingness to go with them and get help. Like other chronic diseases, the earlier addiction is treated, the better.
Express love and concern: don’t wait for your loved one to “hit bottom.” You may be met with excuses, denial or anger. Be prepared to respond with specific examples of behavior that has you worried.
Don’t expect the person to stop without help: you have heard it before – promises to cut down, stop – but, it doesn’t work. Treatment, support, and new coping skills are needed to overcome addiction to alcohol and drugs.
Support recovery as an ongoing process: once your friend or family member is receiving treatment, or going to meetings, remain involved. Continue to show that you are concerned about his/her successful long-term recovery.
Some things you don’t want to do:

Don’t preach: Don’t lecture, threaten, bribe, preach or moralize.
Don’t be a martyr: Avoid emotional appeals that may only increase feelings of guilt and the compulsion to drink or use other drugs.
Don’t cover up, lie or make excuses for his/her behavior.
Don’t assume their responsibilities: taking over their responsibilities protects them from the consequences of their behavior.
Don’t argue when using: avoid arguing with the person when they are using alcohol or drugs; at that point he/she can’t have a rational conversation.
Don’t feel guilty or responsible for their behavior; it’s not your fault.
Don’t join them: don’t try to keep up with them by drinking or using.

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230 Comments

Alice’s alcoholism probably has genetic roots based on what we learn about her father’s alcoholism. Additionally, by watching him engage in alcoholic behaviors as a little girl, she probably learned about how to hide alcoholism from family members, just as her daughter learns about how she wraps her bottles of vodka in newspaper before putting them in the trash. It seems that Alice also has problems expressing her feelings and thoughts within her family. When she tries to discipline her children, her husband talks over her and negates the things that she says, making her feel worthless and less likely to share her thoughts and feelings over time. Although she lives in a beautiful home with a lovely husband and children, her circumstances frustrate her. It is really hard work taking care of her two daughters and working at the same time, especially since her husband is away so often and she doesn’t have a good support system when he is gone. The wider societal stigma is evident by the fact that she becomes very good at hiding her problem. She is ashamed to talk about her problem with her husband and goes to great lengths to hide from him, as well as from society by wrapping her bottles in newspaper. Alcoholism is caused by many factors, and I think there is never just one root cause.

In the movie when a man loves a woman, we meet Alice, a very beautiful young woman, who struggles with her alcoholism. Although people have tried to help her better herself and over come her habit, she never allows them to fully help her. Ultimately she has the decision on whether she wants to better herself, and although she wants to get better her addiction does not let her. It’s not until her husband takes her to an institution that she truly is able to escape. Ever since she was little she was surrounded by family that drank and struggled with keeping good drinking habits, which she picked up on. Alcohol became a tool for her to become herself at first and to have fun, but it eventually consumed her. She lost herself and became dependent on alcohol to function. Alcohol became her escape from her problems and struggles, in a way it became her friend, but unlinke a good friend, it only wanted her to drink , which was not her better self, it was her broken self. Alice’s alcohol addiction is not genetic, but a learned behavior from the people in her life and how they handled situations, which Leads to her hiring herself and her family. She is luckily able to better herself and recuperate before it’s too late, something not all addicts are able to achieve. She acknowledged she had a problem and instead of ignoring it faced it and gained who she really was again.

Alice problem with alcohol is one of learned behavior rather than a genetic. she clearly has been drinking at an early age seeing what the people around her doing. And you can see at the start their relationship was based on social pleasures. So the husband never paid attention to her drinking problem, but instead just thinking he’s with someone who likes to party, have fun, drink a lot and stuff like that. It was almost late for him to realize the fact that she was an addict, and that was when she start getting worse with her drunkenness. At this point, she was going through a lot in and all she needed was a friend who she can cry to and listen to how bad her day was, and pretty much not a caretaker like her husband was doing.Going to the rehab was a huge step in her life as she finally met people who they share common life stories and going through the same emotions and feelings. The biggest problem Alice had was that she felt alone, rejected and unnoticed, she needed someone to talk to, but at the end ,she was able to join the focus group where she can actually talk to people about it, and that helped greatly.

From personal experience or view, growing up even though my parent never consumed alcohol, my uncles, and grandfather, on the other hand, were great alcoholics. I watch them drink alcohol all the time and they actually gave me my first win when I was just 9-10 years old. Ever since then I’ve been drinking alcohol my whole life, and now I am 20. But I drink alcohol with a limit and the reason I’m not an alcoholic I’ll say is because I always have people to talk to whenever I am going through emotional distress.

Yes it does have lots of causes, but when you compare and contrast these factors you’ll find out they’re all linked to a learned behaviors. Monkey see monkey do. I actually know a lot of people who are addicts to alcohol but none of both parents consume alcohol. And also my cousin who both parents do consume alcohol never consume alcohol. So i think it’s pretty much how you was growing up, if no one ever stopped you then it’s okay to do it. Stuff like that

When we are first introduced to Alice we see her as an attractive young married woman with a loving husband. She is a daughter of an alcoholic, and mother to two young girls with different fathers. Her personality is fun and bubbly, unless she is sober. Alcohol has taking over her life and she is an addict. She cannot function without drinking, which has led to many problems both in her family and career as well. Although her husband and the people around try to help her and “fix” her, they are not able to have much impact, until her husband, Michael, forcefully takes her to an alcoholic facility. The film takes a very realistically approach at alcoholism and the steps to recuperation. It does not sugarcoat things, or change things in order to have a happy ending or vibe throughout the film. Instead we are able to observe the challenges and hardships two people that love each must face, in order to overcome a nasty addiction.

Psychodynamic Perspective
Alice and Michael’s marriage revolved around having fun and partying all the time. Soon she was affected by the environment around her because “You are what the environment makes you”, Alice was so afraid that if she returned home her marriage would not be the same and degrade because she won’t have the same personality she once had when she was always drunk. She was always fun and drunk when since she met him and is afraid he won’t love her anymore.

Behavioral Perspective
She was surrounded by alcoholics growing up. She learned where and how to obtain alcohol based off watching her father’s habits. Alice goes to a rehabilitation center has her daughter sees her chug a whole entire bottle and smacks her. Her daughter also knows how to hide bottles in the trashcan because she watched Alice. The daughter throws her mom under the bus when she tells Michael that he’s supposed to wrap the bottles in paper so that no one will see them.
Humanistic Perspective
When we compare Alice’s life to Maslow’s hierarchy, we can see that in the beginning Alice wasn’t even on the map because she was always in an Altered State of Consciousness due to the fact she was always drinking. However after going to rehab she slowly makes her way on to the pyramid. After becoming sober she is now able to think clearly and actually connect with her daughters and husband. Being sober and being with the family means she is in tune with the first three parts of Maslow’s pyramid, Psychological because she is able to process thoughts, Safety because she doesn’t need to drink in order to feel comfortable anymore and Love/Belonging because she is able to have fun with her daughters and actually grow with them as a real mom.

Social/Group/Cognitive Perspective
Alice goes out to drink after her coworker convinces her to go out because she needed a friend to talk to. Alice believes that she needs to be drunk in order for people to want to be around her and really enjoy her presence. And again but under a cognitive perspective, she admits that she is afraid to go back to her husband because he won’t love her ‘sober personality”.

Exactly why should we use our genes as an excuse to cover up the facts of the situation. I also agree with you on how people allow their genetic background as a “free pass” so to speak. Genetics in my view pertains to your overall aspect of the person, their appearance, character traits etc.., Not the persons attitude . Everyone is capable of making their own decisions. A genetic, or gene in my case does not define a humans freedom of choice.

Hi Anita, one Great post and two I agree with your behavioral perspective. Alice as we know came from an alcoholic environment and I feel as if made it seem that excessive use of alcohol is of normal behavior. from the social aspect play a role to in her addiction. Pertaining to Alice’s behavior, I find it that those who undergo alcoholism can’t help but unwind themselves to become more approachable at social events.

According to the movie, obviously, Alice’s alcoholism is not affect by genetic, it is because she saw her father drink everyday in her early age, that the reason why she have this drinking behavior. However, she keep it as a habit and keep drinking more and more. Become an alcoholic cause lots of problems for Alice, she got drunk and did not come back home to look after the kids, so that her husband has to cancel the fight and come back home. When Alice got drunk, all her feeling and emotion will be intensive. she got drunk, hurt her daughter and fell off the bathing room. Her husband is always the one that help her out, and keep everything under control. Michael takes care of things, sometimes, hurt Alice’s feeling. When Alice try to parenting her child, Michael step in etc. Alcoholism is drawn more and more attention in nowadays society. We have law to restrain people from drinking to much, some of people even think alcoholism do harm to our society more than drugs. The cause of alcoholism is based on people who had a bad day, upset, or having a party. they start drinking. and then drinking become a habit, and people drink more and more and get drunk, it becomes an addiction.

I was so shocked when we discovered that she started to drink at age 9. I agree with what you said in the end, “they start drinking. and then drinking become a habit, and people drink more and more and get drunk, it becomes an addiction.” I feel like this is true because I’ve seen it in real life and in social media. People start to drink one day to relieve their stress but then they get addicted to alcohol. For them, it’s a way to escape and forget what’s happening in their real world.

I don’t believe Alice had a single source that led to her alcoholism. Her behavior surely started from the influence she had received from her father, but because of other things that affected her, like her husband rarely being home and her having to care for two children, it takes a toll on her on a psychological standpoint. As so, my belief is that her alcoholism comes from her childhood, and the stress of her marriage. Her father relied on alcohol, and so, she had learned from him that alcohol can be an answer to any problem. As she started to resort to alcohol as a solution, it was bound to get worse, due to the fact that her husband was always away, prohibiting him from stopping her from abusing alcohol. What would also lead to her alcoholism worsening, is the relationship with her eldest daughter. As there was an increasing strain on their relationship, as she was impacting her in a negative way, she was bound to ultimately get worse. All in all, her alcoholism came from her environment, not genetics.

When thinking of how Alice went about things in the movie. It becomes clear that she learned that type of behavior that watching her father drink has a child caused her to learn and take those behaviors and make them a apart of how she deals with things around her. her drinking caused a lot of negative effects and things to happen to her. She became more violent has she began to drink more and more has time passed. She had traumas from her childhood from watching her father drink how he dealt with everything by drinking and that what she began to do. As she left more and more alone because her husband was not around she drank more and acted out while she was intoxicated as a from to catch someones attention because she wanted attention felt that might a good way to get some attention.She took what she had seen for a large apart of her childhood and applied it to her life thinking it wouldn’t have the same effect that it did back then. Having her mother always say something about her in negative way didn’t help it made things worse because it only reminded her more of everything and to a extent she drank has a way to escape from everything.

This movie is a realistic example of how alcohol can ruin any relationship. An important factor that I was mostly concern on was Alice’s daughters. As Alice becomes more uncontrollable with her addiction, the children were also affected by her actions. Alice’s aggression with her daughter was a major ‘red light’ that she has gone too far. Because of this, Alice was led to the hospital for detoxification. This reminds about the relationship between a mother and a son from a film called “Pay It Forward”. The mother had a serious alcohol problem and the son, while being a little boy, had to take care of her. EX: The mother would come back very late from work, then she would drink a lot and ‘pass out’ on the bed with her work clothes. The son would take her shoes off and put a blanket over her. The reason why the mother drank a lot was because of the boy’s father. The father was abusive and their relationship were constantly on and off. Luckily the mother got better because of another character in the film. (I recommend it to anyone, it’s a really impacting movie.)
Alice’s behavior was caused by the history between her own father and alcohol. With her father being an alcoholic, she would watch him. As she grew up, her first thought was to lean towards drinking because that’s what she saw her father do. It can possibly be the same with her grandfather and father, considering the fact that he was a big drinker too.
I don’t believe that alcoholism is connected to genetics. Lets say that a kid gets adopted by two people who never drink but the child’s biological parents had serious alcoholic problems. When the child grows up, he/she doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be drinkers. It all depends on how they’re raised and with who they spend time with because peers can have a significant effect on a person.
Alice’s problem is that she thinks she’s happier when she drinks but that’s just the chemicals messing around with her. The alcohol is just ruining her life and the lives of her peers.
From Psycho-dynamic (Freud) perspective, it appears that she probably had a disturbance during her oral stage of development. Considering that she drinker alcohol and when she was in rehab, she was in the habit of smoking cigarettes. But from a Psycho-dynamic (Neo-Freudian) perspective, it can be that she grew up in an environment where her father was a heavy drinker. Plus, her grandfather was an alcoholic too.
Many factors led to her drinking/smoking habit. She also heavily expressed her sadness and stress when she was alone because her husband had to work. All this had a major impact between the herself, husband, and kids.

(continuation)
What causes Alice’s behavior: Solidarity and stress caused for her to be the way she was, all tensed up. She believed the only remedy to relax was alcohol. Not only did alcohol ruin her life, but also her husband’s and children’s. Her problem even led her to be violent towards her daughters. After this, she realized that she had a serious issue and went to rehab to detoxify her body and mind.

Genetics: I don’t believe that alcoholism is a genetic factor. As mentioned above… It all depends on your surroundings not by your DNA. Yes, her father and grandfather were alcoholics but that because they most likely grew up in an environment that included alcohol.

Early childhood experiences: Alice was always in a alcoholic environment… Her father and grandfather had problems with alcohol. She had her first drink at age 9. I feel like she thought it was normal because she would see her father drink and it was normal for her.

Problems with feelings and thoughts: Alice felt sad and insecure about herself. She felt as if alcohol was her but friend because it made her forget about how she perceived about herself.

Current circumstances: Alice was constantly alone because her husband had to work. She found herself going out to drink with friends very often. Her alcoholism got so serious that she was hiding bottles around her house. This was a ‘red flag’ because it became a daily routine, to drink and get drunk.

Wider society: Alice feels like whenever she’s drunk, she’s a better/ fun person. Her friends make her think that she’s more likable when she’s drinking because carefree, wild, and reckless.

What are the causes of alcoholism: In Alice’s case, her alcoholism began because of the stress from work and the absence of her husband, Michael. She feels extremely lonely and finds herself leaning towards a drink. Another factor that triggered her bad habit was that Alice grew up with an alcoholic father and grandfather. So, she saw this as a normal thing, to constantly drink.

Alice is a prime example that can be used in behavioral psychology. She is “trained” to be an alcoholic due to environmental stimuli, such as her father being an alcoholic. While growing up, she watched him drink in order to cope with her nagging and judgmental mother. Instead of recognizing the negatives associated with alcoholism and refraining, Alice focused on the coping mechanisms that drinking allows us. We can also look at this part from a Freudian perspective, because the childhood trauma that can be analyzed would be Alice watching her father suffer from alcoholism. Personally, I do not believe that addiction is a genetic component, but more of an environmental and social aspect. When growing up surrounded by an addict, we see first-hand what addiction looks like. We can either recognize the detriments of this addiction and refrain from these addictive behaviors, or we can focus on what addicts receive from being drunk or high (not being present, able to avoid problems/emotions). We all have the option to pick which path we take, which ties in with the humanistic perspective. With that being said I do recognize addiction as a disease, and I don”t believe that someone ever chooses to be “addicted”. But it is the behaviors that inevitably lead us there. In Alice’s case, she has been surrounded by alcoholism since a young age, and then enters into the adult world which presents much stress to all, where she balances a career, family, and a marriage. All of this stress can cause anyone to want to check out, and in her case checking out manifested itself in drinking to the point of developing alcoholism.

Hi Kaitlyn,
I agree that Alice is a prime example in behavioral psychology because she learned to drink and took up the copping method from her father. But wouldnt you also say everything that she was living with her husband drove her to drink more. Because she would go home to empty home since he would be out working so much. She found herself alone most of the time

Alice’s behavior is by no means genetic. In general I do not believe that alcoholism is genetic. I believe that an adult who had an alcoholic parent growing up is more likely to be an alcoholic versus an adult who did not have that same environment. Alice’s father being an alcoholic also may have influenced her to be one herself since she was surrounded by it. Early childhood experiences also could have influenced her to be an alcoholic. She did say a couple times in the movie that her alcoholic could have something to do with her mom saying she was “nothing”. Throughout the movie it never seemed like she had a good relationship with her parents even though they took care of the two girls when they needed it. Her mom did not hug her, and did not look thrilled to see her. Given the way the behaved around each other, I’d say that her relationship with her parents was effecting her currently.

It seems that based on her early childhood experience she did have a lot f issues with her feelings and thoughts. It almost seemed like she had repressed memories of her mother making her feel worthless. Alice used alcohol to cope with those feelings, rather than ever trying to deal with it elsewhere. That’s where her father’s alcoholism comes into play, because Alice observed those poor coping mechanisms.

The current circumstances do not play a huge role, but I don’t believe it was fixing any of her problems that she needed to deal with within herself. However, I believe for the times that she was sober around the house, she did not like seeing Michael properly being able to father her children (one not his) because subconsciously she most likely felt like she could not care and parent her children.

Once she sobers up, she put a lot of the blame on Michael for her alcoholism. I don’t think he played a huge role, however like I said previously, I don’t think he helped. Alice seemed like she did not like/appreciate how he spoke to her or belittled her. At times, it seemed like he wanted to fix her and make everything better.

In my opinion, I believe alcoholism is a bad habit. An addiction is a bad habit, but a bad habit doesn’t necessarily have to be an addiction. It all starts when one learns a behavior from another surrounding alcohol and it becomes a coping mechanism and habit before they know it. And for someone like Alice who had issues with feelings and thoughts, she is more prone to the disease.

Alice’s behavior is not caused by genetics. There is no gene that predetermines someone’s addiction. In most cases, it is an emotional or mental addiction to the drug. In some cases like Alcoholism, it can be a learned behavior. Alice once said as a child her father was an alcoholic and she had seen his habits. Her father’s role as an alcoholic in her childhood could have had a lot to do with her alcoholism in adulthood. Where you mentally and your surroundings can also influence your addiction. In Alice’s case, she seemed like she had a pretty good lifestyle from the beginning to the end of the movie. This is what makes me believe she must have had problems with her feelings and thoughts. Later in the movie she alluded to her husband being the problem— as though he was the one who had caused her alcoholism. In my opinion, I do not think that was the case. Alice caused a dependency to alcohol on her own. To cope with emotions she didn’t fully understand. What causes alcoholism as with other addictions is the dependency on the mental side of the drug. Until your reality is amalgamated to the drug, without the drug you “aren’t yourself”, as if you were a different person. Alice had many problems and it was all of these different factors that caused her alcoholism.

Hi Ezekial,
I totally agree with you that Alice alcoholism was something she learned from watching her father and how he would deal with his problems by drinking. But I also think her husband did play a huge factor because the moments that she did look for him to be there is was not there. He was always out working and that also played a factor because she didnt always feel his support or that he was there with her.

After watching the movie I can say for a fact that Alice did have an alcohol addiction. However whenever she drank I felt as if she was drinking to escape her life because the reasons for Alice drinking weren’t showed strong enough and there wasn’t any real hard evidence that her school life was causing her stress. I think she was trying to escape her life because whenever her husband tried to help you can see the evidence In her face that it wasn’t enough. Not only that, you can also tell she was trying to escape life When Alice got drunk on her trip with her husband. The two of them could’ve enjoyed the vacation sober but she was ended up drunk instead. I personally believe she was only drinking to escape from whatever was bothering her but soon realized in doing so she was destroying her family and thus knew she must stop drinking.

I do agree with you. Alice was by no means forced into rehab, she wanted to go. She knew that she needed to go. I almost felt like she wanted to be there more than her husband wanted her to be there. Her husbands perspective of her was not wrong, however it was selfish. It was easier for him to have control over the situation with Alice’s alcohol problem rather than help her deal with it. He could not understand that the people in the rehab were all addicts, including her. Due to his lack of understanding, I think this pushed Alice away a bit.

Alice grew up surrounded by alcoholics like her father and grandfather. From a behavioral perspective, this can all be learned since she knows where and how to obtain alcohol. When Alice met her husband, their relationship and marriage revolved around having fun and taking trips, as Alice later refers it to ‘escaping reality’. Her husband then becomes her enabler. This was evidently shown after a night out and he started join her egging a car instead of actually bringing her inside right then and there. Alice is a social drinker because her coworker convinces her to go out and chat. She might believe that if she is intoxicated that people would want her presence. After she becomes sober, she admits that there may be a obstacle in their marriage because she won’t be that fun personality anymore that only comes when she is under the influence.

I like how you used the word enabler to describe her husband and the example of them egging the car was perfect. That moment struck me a lot because what for the life of me it did not make sense as to why he was helping her egg the car. Now I understand why everyone keeps saying he found her entertaining when drunk. Watching her egg the car made him want to be a part of the “fun” so to speak and he joined in instead of seeing the real problem, she was drunk , the car was noisy, so she reacted in an attempt to shut it up. That should have been the first sign to her husband. The second should have been when she forgot to come home so that he could go on his trip. She was drunk when she got home and he should have noticed the root of the problem instead of just brushing her off. Honestly, it goes a bit deeper than that. Maybe the movie skimmed over this but they really did not get to know each other too much. They fell in love over a cake and met at a bar. I don’t think the husband really knew here as a person but just saw her as something he liked and could protect. If he had taken the time to get to know his wife he would have noticed her deep rooted issues and maybe been able to help her better. I didn’t like this movie at all because I felt like so many things could have been avoided if someone took a step back to look at the whole picture.

I believe Alice had a drinking problem since she met her husband. They often talk about how Alice’s husband has always been the one taking care of her . Bringing her back everytime she got too drunk to keep a hold of herself. I think that is part of the reason he might of been attracted to her. He is a pilot and as a pilot he has confidence and likes control. Drunk Alice gave him that. It was mutual Alice had a drinking problem and he was an overprotector that enable her to drink.

From a psycological-neo freudian-point of view Alice was most likely belittle by her mother alot when she was younger and still is,to the point her young daughter notices. She was made into this useless person so she probably felt she had no choice but to follow the path already chosen for her.

Behavioral- Alice saw her father drink since young. It became normal and she probably unconsciously started to follow her father footsteps because thats what she had known her whole life
Group/Social- Drinking is viewed as a way to unwind by many adults. It is not taboo and no one sees anything wrong with drinking a bit after a stressful day at work.Alice saw it this way. Her friends ask her to go drink and she did. Except she drank more than a few drinks.And often ended up drunk.

I like the points you make. Throughout the movie, it did seem like he was satisfied having control over her. Especially in the scene at the beginning of the movie where she was throwing things at the car because it was beeping. He was laughing, and it seemed almost entertaining to him. However, if it was out of his sight I feel as though he would have reacted differently about the situation.

I think Alice definitely had an addiction but for me, it seemed like for a lot of the movie she was associating her addiction with all of the wrong things. For instance, she would project her problem onto her husband, blaming him for her addiction. At one point I remember her saying something along the lines of, since he always belittled her in her parenting efforts, she drank. Or when she would “have a bad day at work” she would drink. This really made sense to me because a friend of mine who at some points I believe is alcoholic drinks as a reward like Alice does. It’s difficult to tell though because I feel like at this point in his life (as a college student) many binges drink on weekends. Though in his case he blackouts almost every weekend. He isn’t as out of control as Alice but I see similarities. My friend when I confront him seems to always have some kind of excuse for why he blacks out, he doesn’t see it as a problem. Though I believe it is. It seems as though Alice really started to make progress when she took responsibility for her actions and I believe my friend won’t make progress until he does the same.

Jane
According to the movie, this film has shown how really alcohol takes a trail on someones life. I see Alice as a mother of two kids, who tried to love and care for her family but only she was failed by alcohol. She grew up in a home whose father and grandfather were both alcoholics.Her drinking started at the age of 18 as she mentioned in the movie. The environment at times tends to contribute to one’s drinking.Alice’s drinking affected both her life and her family. I don’t want to imagine that it might have been the main cause as to why the father to her first daughter left for the same reasons . She is blessed to have gotten married to another guy at least who was there for her even at her worst moments when the buzz overwhelmed her life.The daughter that found her mum on the bathroom floor must have been traumatized by the mother’s behavior because of what ever was going on in the family.

What causes Alice’s behavior?
Alice’s behavior was based on the what she grew up seeing, what her parents were doing {father and grandfather} both where alcoholism and i believe seeing them drink it became apart of her life. In other words it was OK.

No i don’t think its genetic for her but being around such behavior can most defiantly play a role in her decision to drink alcohol for some reasons as she mentioned in the video.
Alice used to drink a lot so she could feel less stressed or feel better also she felt in control ,,,…and every time she did not take or drink some alcohol her body operating well.
when we talk of wider society that says its okay to go out with friends and have drinks with them after a long and stressful day, which is what she did when she forgot her husbands flight and came back home late.

A lot of issues must have contributed to her becoming an alcoholic. Having a mum who always put her down must have destroyed herself esteem and she resorted to drinking, a stressful job that she had could be another cause, the husband always had to travel leaving her alone with the children and the entire household to her pushed her. i also think that she felt like neglected by all the close people around.

You have made some great points in your comment. I think that her husbands traveling, and being alone with the children was definitely an impact. I think Alice did have feelings of neglect, and helplessness. Also Alice did mention her mother a few times throughout the movie, recalling how she would put her down.

Gabby
That is true many times we see people who re abused by their parents being addicts because they feel comforted by the buzz. They might be abused physically and emotionally. In Alice’s case she was abused emotionally and the only thing she felt like could heal her was drinking.

very well said Jane… and could you possible forward this to me because I and few friends are trying to do research and experimental test to see how it actually happens on both sides. You pretty much made it better to understand…. chohchomahtitus@gmail.com

Alice’s behavior was not effected by her genetics, I think his behavior was effected by his family, because when she was 9 years’s old, his father drink a lot, in that time , she learned it and copy her father’s behavior. when she got a family, before she know this problem, she thought everything is ok. However, when she drunk a lot and hit the child, she want to stop drink, but she can’t control her mind and body by herself. But the important point is her husband, because of her husband’s work always have trip. he can’t accompany beside her. Alice feel lonely, have nothing to do, alcohol was the only way relieve stress. I think the reason of alcoholism family influence, no one take care with her, when she get some problem, she always do that lonely. and these problem make her be a alcoholism.

In the movie Alice talked about thinking everyone wanted her to be the fun girl, do you all think that in a way Michael liked when she was drunk even though at some point she would start to go overboard like with the eggs on the car and literally when she wouldn’t sit down and fell overboard into the water.

I also agree that Alice’s behavior was not because of her genetics but because of the environment she grew up in. Considering the fact that her father and grandfather were alcoholics, She saw it as a normal thing, to drink. Alice had strep upon her and she felt alone when her husband would leave. I feel that this also had a major part in her drinking problem.

I think you bring up a good point when talking about Alice’s loneliness. Loneliness seems as though it could be a common theme in her life, from dealing with an alcoholic parent and a mother who was emotionally unavailable. She then marries a pilot, who is not able to dedicate a lot of time, therefore he ends up being an enabler to her alcoholism. Drinking is definitely Alice’s coping mechanism of choice.

I think her early childhood experience caused her behavior. Because her father drinked a lot, and she started to drink when she was a teen. It is not about genetic. Because it is a learned behavior. When she was around 14 she started to drink. She started to drink because her family members drinked a lot. She felt relax when she was get drunk, and she also thought she could do nothing without alcohol. She put herself in the dangerous situations more than once when she was drunk, and she could not take care of her kids because of she is barely sober. When she cried and talked with her husband. she said she she was very stressful, and felt lonely and helpless.
There are many reasons causes alcoholism. like Alice, stress, helpless, mental problem, depression and family influences all could cause alcoholism.

I agree with you, it is not about genetics it’s about learned behavior. There is no guarantee that having an alcoholic father/mother is going to force you to be an alcoholic. Genetics says that we do not have a say in the matter and I don’t agree with that. It’s all about how you view the behavior of the addict close to you, and how you let it influence you.

I agree with your POV. I also think it has a lot to do with her self esteem. You could tell her mother rarely gave her affection by the way she talks to her. In the first scene Alice appears in her mom mentions her weight before even saying hi. This is so essential for esteem because your parents are ususlly the first people who try to build it up. In her house hold as a young one you could tell with an alcoholic dad and unsupportive mom she was very low about herself which explains her drinking at such a young age. I really like the points you made

I think the main thing that causes her behavior is the fact that she feels shes a better person when she isn’t sober. When she was growing up her father drank and her mother seemed to take all of her problems and blames everything on Alice. Earlier in the movie one of Alice’s coworkers or friends in a way pressured her to go out and have a drink because she really needed to talk to her, Alice might feel that when shes under the influence she is someone that everyone wants to be around but doesn’t realize the reckless choices she makes while drunk.

Any addiction is a selfish situation because someone is always going to have to give more in the effort to benefit the other person. Reading these comments and responses has helped me see that side of addiction. Not only does the person addicted have to cope with their addiction and the fact that they hurt their families but the families have to cope and realize which parts of their behaviors towards the person with a problem aided in their downfall. It’s an eyeopener for sure, it’s sad and disheartening. It’s a struggle on both ends of the spectrum. The point you made about Alice feeling useful when drunk is one that I did not previously see or think about until now. She also mentioned once to her husband how much she does around the house by herself with barely any help. She probably felt like alcohol was the only way to cope with the stress of the high demands between her husband, children and work life.

From watching the movie I do not believe that Alice’s behavior was caused by any one factor but by a combination of all factors. When the question comes up about what made Alice this way many instances can be brought to mine. One it could be a mixture of genetic and childhood influences. Genetic because her father and grandfather were both alcoholics, the childhood influence comes from watching both of them drink to escape their problems. It could be wider society that says its okay to go out and have a drink with your friends after a stressful day, which is what she did when she forgot her husbands flight. When it comes to her feelings and thoughts Alice was going through a tough time. Her mom always put her down as a child lowering her self esteem, her husband was away often leaving her to handle the household alone, and she had a stressful job. When her husband was around he only wanted to think of happy and fun things too busy to pay attention to her habits or inner emotions. Being neglected and the feeling of being surrounded by people and yet still alone would be enough to drive anyone crazy. Because of what Alice learned from her father and grandfather she took to drinking as a momentary fix. What started out as a small issue became her hiding alcohol and destroying her family.

When you see it all in writing it makes perfect sense as to why she spiraled the way she did. Having to deal with the things she did would drive anyone mad and because no one taught her how to coop with her stress I agree that the only thing she knew was to go to her bottle. I also feel that she felt guilty that her husband always had to take care of her and it made her feel really good when she had someone like Patrick that needed her help and advise . For once she got to feel like the savior instead of the person that needed saving and Michael couldn’t see that.

It was hard or me to grasp at first but then when I began to jot down the series of events I began to understand. I never thought about how she felt as being the person with the problem. In fact I felt really bad for the husband that her problem led to them breaking up because I felt as though he truly loved her. I felt as though in the end she was selfish. When you brought up her feeling needed by Patrick it helped me connect the dots a bit and understand why she was so angry. Her having a problem and feeling like nothing but a burden to those around her even , on her road to recovery must have been really hard on her. Feeling needed and able to help someone is what made her feel at her best. Michael thought loving her and trying to prevent certain situations would be enough but in a way he was stifling her.

This movie was a real eye opener for me because I come from family of alcoholics and drug users. Alice struggled with the addition of alcohol and for most parts she was a functional drunk, which scary because when your body depends on a substance so much to the point where your body is used to this substance even if isn’t good for you. That only can lead that person into a down spiral and destruction. Also the person who is the alcoholic is not the only one is affected. The people who love that person are affected by it as well. In this movie Alice’s family is affected. Alice’s daughter had to live with the fact that her mom had a problem and needs help. She grew use to her outbursts, abnormal behaviors and lonely cries for help. Alice in the end finally came to some type of understanding that she has a problem and I believe talking about it out loud is the first step to her recovery along with rehab.

What causes Alice’s behavior?

I believe that Alice’s behavior was based on the whole saying “ you are a product of your environment” I don’t thinks it genetics but being around such behavior can most defiantly play a role in her decision to drink alcohol for the underlying issues that she me dealing with.

Behavioral: I think because of her upbringing and the fact that her husband to some degree enjoyed her while she was drunk didn’t help her issue.

Humanistic: I believe once Alice’s husband and her family see things through the eyes of Alice is when they will see why she gets drunk and understand that she feels like a whole different person when she is under the influence can help find ways to get her help.

Alice is prime example of a person who has inner insecurities or shall I say difficulties and she uses a coping mechanism so she does not really have to deal with those issues. Alice started off with Physiological issues, which was the alcohol abuse, and then she started with putting herself in danger when she got drunk (falling and etc.) The love of her family was there but it also didn’t help her because no one addressed her issue and kind of accepted her as she was. He self- esteem was at all time high when she was drunk which is the reason why she stayed drink and when she finally addressed her issue is when she started the self-actualization process..

Hello Tiffany,
I enjoy and found fascinating on how you explain people who suffer from alcoholism. I like the sentence where you stated “That only can lead that person to a down spiral and destruction.” it is something that we might not experience, but it is something that we can say because we have seen it. You made really important points to whether a person who is alcoholism does not only affect herself but those who surround that person.

I agree that Alice is a product of her environment. She learns her drinking habits as a child by watching her father drink in order to cope with her demanding mother. She then begins to use alcohol as her own coping mechanism. Her husband also proves to be a huge enabler, especially at the beginning when he is in denial of Alice’s addiction to alcohol.

when Alice was young, her family didn’t prevent her stop drinking, because her family( grandfather, father all drink alcohol). maybe that behavior was not a heredity. but this behavior actually effect Alice’s future and her family. when she married and got a family. because of her hobby. her family couldn’t look like wonderful. Although someone wanted to help her, however, if Alice can’t control by herself. do anything just waste time. finally, she knew her problem and want deal with that by herself. That’s my favourite part and all the time when I saw these type’s movie. I think sometimes drink or drug will make people feel comfortable in the short time. but these can’t deal all the problem in the source.

Hello Yu Liu,
I totally agree with the point you made about how the behavior of alcoholism affects Alice’s future. Also, from her past and the problem that she has with alcohol could be difficult for her to control herself.

Hi Yu,
I agree, Alice’s alcohol addiction may have be an affect of her family’s past with alcoholism but it was definitely not hereditary. However, i am a little confused about what you are trying to say about Alice controlling her alcoholism and recovering. I don’t understand if you believe help from someone else would benefit Alice or if she only needed herself..